Scattershooting across 2026

Where does 2026 fit: The Cardinals finished 77-85 in 2026, after 78-84 in 2025. That is the franchise's first run of back-to-back losing seasons since the strike-shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons. It is the first across two full-length seasons since 1958 and 1959.

The 2023 team went 71-91, so 2023, 2025 and 2026 make three losing seasons in four years. The Cardinals last did that from 1994 through 1997.

Over the four seasons, the Cardinals had a .477 winning percentage. In the last 100 years, only two four-season stretches were worse: 1975-78 (.472) and 1994-97 (.475).

How bad was 2-11: The Cardinals went 2-11 against the Brewers in 2026. They had not lost a season series that badly since 1909, counting every series of 12 or more games. That year they went 3-18 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was also their worst season against Milwaukee since the Brewers moved to the National League in 1998. The low point before 2026 came in 2008, at 5-10.

The Brewers outscored the Cardinals 66-37 in the 13 games. St. Louis went 0-6 in Milwaukee and 0-4 in one-run games. Cardinals hitters had a .539 OPS (on-base plus slugging) against the Brewers, against .703 in their other games. Masyn Winn had a .342 OPS in 39 plate appearances, a small sample. Of the Cardinals with 30 or more plate appearances against Milwaukee, only Jordan Walker beat that mark, at .812 in 51.

The Cardinals went 22-17 against the rest of the Central. Against Milwaukee they went 2-11, which left them 24-28 in the division.

The Cardinals have now lost four straight season series to the Brewers. They went 5-8 in 2023 and 5-8 in 2024. They went 6-7 in 2025 and 2-11 in 2026. That adds up to 18-34 over four seasons.

What happened at home: The Cardinals went 38-43 at Busch Stadium in 2026. That is the third losing home record in the last 11 seasons, after 2016 (38-43) and 2023 (35-46). From 2000 through 2015, the Cardinals had none.

They also did better on the road, at 39-42. That happened in four of the last 11 seasons: 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2026. Before 2016, the last full-length season it happened was 1990.

The pitchers allowed 373 runs at Busch and 376 on the road. The hitters scored 310 runs at home and 410 on the road.

That 100-run gap was the largest in the majors. The Angels were next, at 81 fewer runs at home. It was also the Cardinals' largest since the new Busch Stadium opened in 2006. The biggest before 2026 was 92, in 2021.

Alec Burleson hit 8 home runs at home and 18 on the road. His OPS was .739 at Busch in 330 plate appearances and .890 on the road in 340. JJ Wetherholt went from .787 on the road (322 plate appearances) to .617 at home (297). José Fermín was the only regular who hit better at home: .668 in 193 plate appearances, against .658 in 177 on the road.

We checked whether close losses explained the home record. The Cardinals won more than they lost in one-run games at Busch, going 15-12.

Did July end the season: The Cardinals went into July at 44-38, 7½ games behind Milwaukee. They went 10-18 in the month and came out of it at 54-56, 14½ back.

July started well. The Cardinals won three of their first four games and scored 32 runs, including a 17-1 win at Wrigley Field on July 3. From July 5 on, they went 7-17 and scored 78 runs in 24 games. That is 3.25 runs a game. Over that stretch the lineup had a .569 OPS. Iván Herrera had a .507 OPS in 97 plate appearances. Alec Burleson hit best among Cardinals with 50 or more plate appearances in that stretch, at .756 in 95.

The starters kept runs down in short outings. Their 3.68 ERA in July was their best of any month, a hair ahead of May's 3.69. They threw 139⅓ innings in 28 starts, fewer innings per start than in any month but September. Kyle Leahy allowed 4 earned runs in 26 innings over 5 starts.

The Cardinals have had months like this lately. Since 2019, they have had four other months of 20 or more games at a .357 winning percentage or worse, including July 2025 at 8-16. This one came when the team stood six games over .500.

2026 results come from MLB's official game data (statsapi), all 162 games, including each player's batting line in every game. Franchise history comes from Retrosheet game records (1898-2025) and the Lahman database's franchise seasons. A season series counts every regular-season game between the two teams. "Full-length" seasons are those of 150 or more games, which leaves out 1981, 1994, 1995 and 2020. A regular here has 150 or more plate appearances both at home and on the road. OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. Runs at home and on the road were checked two ways for 2025: MLB's game data and Retrosheet agree exactly. Standings at the start of July and August come from 700 Clark's daily reports for July 1 and August 1. March games count with April.